Chapter 6

Molly forced the rubble off her as she struggled out from under the debris. She looked around as the dust settled. She appeared to be in some sort of vault, probable used to store some of the pieces from the museum above. Looking up, she saw that she had not fallen too far. She could still make out the shapes of the ruined building above.

A groan made her attention snap to the room's other occupant. Ronon. He must have fallen in at the same time. Unlike her however, he had not had the protection of a personal shield. Molly had been able to attach the device just before the ground gave way and they hit the floor below and everything piled on top of them. She hurried over the rubble to where Ronon was. He was attempting to sit up, but she forced him to remain lying down.

"You okay?" he croaked. She nodded and indicated the shield device, "Good thinking," he replied.

"Are you injured?"

Ronon winced as he sat up again. "Leg," he muttered as he winced again at the pain. Molly removed the rocks that covered the limb and examined it.

"It's broken. There is not much I can do for it." She sat back and looked at Ronon. There were many small cuts on his bare skin and she wished that she had something to clean the dust off of him, "We will have to wait for the others to come and rescue us."

"Anyone else fall down here?" he asked.

"If they did," Molly said, "I think we squashed them."

Ronon chuckled. He looked up at the hole in the ceiling, mulling over their options. "You could probable climb out, get help faster," he looked back at Molly. She folded her arms and scowled at him.

"Leaving you down here with a broken leg and who knows how many internal injures and most likely bringing the rest of this place down in the attempt," she retorted, "Oh, yes. Brilliant plan."

"So what are we going to do while we wait for rescue then?" questioned Ronon.

Molly smiled. She looked around the chamber once more before speaking again.

"I spy with my little eye…"

***

Lorne was supervising the work going on around the broken building. The slow speed chafed at him, but he knew that it was necessary to make sure the remaining structure was stabilised before they attempted a rescue.

"Why couldn't the wraith use on of their darts to beam them out?" a Lantian scientist had complained, after being forced to help stabilise the remaining walls.

"Do you wish the Has'parians to come?" the wraith working beside the scientist had answered, "They would surely investigate if a wraith dart was detected."

The scientist had paled, then returned to stabilising the building.

***

"You cheated!"

"Did not!"

"You did! You changed from rock to paper, just so I would win."

They had given up on 'I Spy' when Molly pointed out that the game was heavily biased in favour of wraith as she could not only read Ronon's mind to see what he was thinking of, but could also see in the dark. Then they had tried 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' after Ronon explained the rules that he himself was rather flaky on. Molly had then started using her wraith telepathy to deliberately lose to Ronon, which had turned the game into a battle of wits and dirty tactics to see who could lose the most.

"Okay, I give up," Ronon said, "Call it a draw?"

She shook his hand. "Draw"

Ronon leaned back, looking up a the ceiling. Surely the others would have rescued them by now.

"They have to make sure the area's safe first, before they send anyone down," Molly answered, oblivious to the fact she had just read his mind, "After all, we don't want too much company down here."

Ronon decided to ignore Molly's slip-up. She couldn't help the fact she could hear human thoughts better than the other wraith. It probably drove her mad, being able to hear the thoughts of the expedition all the time on top of the wraith communications. He shook his head at his thoughts. He, Ronon Dex, who had lost more to the wraith than any of the expedition, was standing up for this human-wraith hybrid. Why? Was it because she was so unlike the wraith, that he forgot she was one?

"Tell me about Reilith," he said, "What's it like?"

"Why do you want to know?" she asked, cocking her head, "It's not as if you'll want to go there."

"Why not?"

"Well for one, there's no gate. It was destroyed over ten thousand years ago." She looked sad, as though remembering some event long forgotten, "Then there's the fact that Reilith is the homeworld of the wraith."

***

"Almost ready, sir"

Lorne nodded as he wiped his grimy face. The sun was sinking low and he didn't much fancy trying to perform a rescue in the dark. Hopefully, Molly and Ronon weren't badly injured because that would make things even more awkward. He had got the remaining medical staff on stand-by.

He hoped it was enough.

***

"Then what happened?"

"Don't know really. I was dead at the time, I only found this out later."

Ronon had started telling Molly about the team's more exciting missions. He was now telling her about the time the wraith had almost made it to earth. Strangely, she seemed more interested in his description of the hive ship that had almost defected them rather than the battle itself.

"So this…Uber-hive, it was powered by a single Zee-PM?"

"Yeah, that's why it was so powerful. You asked that already." Ronon saw her calculating look and became suspicious, "What?"

"You and Major Lorne have been able to acquire five modules in total, haven't you?"

"Because the Harpies are also looking for them, that's why." Ronon retorted, not liking where Molly's reasoning was heading.

"But what if we used them?" Molly suggested, her eyes shining with excitement, "If we also use the other hive in orbit, then we may have enough fire-power to take down a Has'parian ship!"

"No," Ronon said flatly, "It's too dangerous."

Molly rounded on him, "I'm tired of running, tired of hiding from the Has'parians while they kill thousands throughout the galaxy. I thought you would feel the same."

"Molly? Ronon? You okay down there?"

Ronon looked up top the hole in the ceiling and saw Major Lorne being lowered down. When the Major saw them, he grinned and said something to the people holding the rope. He was lowered down to the uneven floor of the chamber and made his way over to them.

"How are you two doing?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Molly informed him, "but Ronon has a broken leg and possible other injures."

Lorne nodded at the information.

"Let's get you two out of here."

"First though," Molly said, "Could you lend me your communicator? I need to speak with Tr'ken McKay before he dismantles too much of the other Hive."

Lorne looked at her quizzically, "Why?"

"Because I have an idea that might give us an edge in this war."

The pieces are starting to move into place now.

More Sheppard next chapter!